By Daniel Borunda
El Paso Times
TEXAS — An El Paso police officer who arrested KVIA reporter Darren Hunt and cameraman Ric Dupont in a videotaped encounter seen nationwide acted unprofessionally and was given an 11-day unpaid suspension, officials announced Tuesday.
A civilian disciplinary board made of members of the news media and lawyers also decided that allegations of unlawful arrest and excessive force leveled against former Sgt. Raul Ramirez were unfounded.
It is the first time in more than a decade that the Police Department used such a panel of civilians to review internal discipline, officials said Tuesday.
After the board’s findings last Thursday, Police Chief Greg Allen suspended Ramirez, who is now an officer after being demoted from sergeant in an unrelated case.
On April 20, Ramirez arrested Hunt and Dupont, who were covering a crash on Interstate 10 on the West Side, for allegedly interfering with public duties.
Police said they were dealing with the accident as traffic backed up on the highway. The news crew was quickly released, but the video made national headlines.
Allen decided to have a civilian review board because of the high-profile nature of the case, said Javier Sambrano, a Police Department spokesman. Allen could not be reached for comment.
“The whole process was trying to find individuals that we felt would be unbiased. We felt that part of the board should be individuals who had been (in the media) or had experience in news media,” Sambrano said.
The board consisted of Channel 4-KDBC news director Scott Pickey, Channel 26-KINT news director Zoltan Csanyi-Salcedo, El Paso Times Publisher Ray Stafford, lawyers Jack T. Chapman and Kevin E. Shannon, and former El Paso County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Rick Glancey.
“I think this is not your typical media case, in my opinion,” Stafford said. “I don’t think it was really so much as a media issue as two personalities more than anything.”
Board members reviewed statements by civilians, police and paramedics and other evidence from an Internal Affairs investigation before they had a private meeting last Thursday at Police Headquarters.
The meeting was closed “to be able to allow the board to look at the particulars of the case without the influence of anybody,” Sambrano said.
Police officials said Hunt, accompanied by his attorney, was in a room outside, but the board did not ask to question him. Ramirez, who was in a separate room, was questioned.
KVIA news director Brenda De Anda-Swann said the board’s findings released late Tuesday afternoon came as a surprise to the station’s newsroom.
“The video is there for people to see and make their own decision,” she said.
Hunt declined to comment. Dupont has since left KVIA to pursue other opportunities.
Csanyi-Salcedo, the KINT news director on the board, said the inclusion of members of the media ensured that the process was fair.
“I think the Police Department and the media in El Paso as a whole have a good working relationship,” Csanyi-Salcedo said. “I was assured by the higher-ups at the Police Department that they would do everything in their power that things remain good, if not even better.”
Sambrano said Allen will determine whether other such review boards are created depending on each individual incident.
For years, civil-rights activists have sought the creation of a police civilian review board. A committee that looked into the Montwood High School riot in 2003 was not created by the Police Department.
Copyright 2009 El Paso Times